Help me build my system

[Jaws]

I am new to the forum. And sorry if this is long winded. I have put in a lot of thought and design for my dream tank build. A little background I started in the hobby with African cichlids. Then started breeding and selling them to LFS’s. Bought a house dropped freshwater and went into saltwater. After a few years I did a dream build and set up a online store direct from the divers in Fiji. I was bringing in 1000lbs of live rock and over 250 corals and fish a month. Got burned out. 15 years later I decided I wanted to get back into it. Not into selling online again. Just a home show tank.

Total water volume including sump will be 340 g. Here is where I need you all to chime in and help me do the controller aspect efficiently. I chose hydros mainly because Apex looks like a plastic toy and over complicated. Don’t get me wrong I do think they have some great features. But after getting input and great customer service from hydros. I feel confident hydros is the better solutions . I am going to break these down into segments.

Saltwater mixing station:

I have 2 165g water tanks that just arrived. I have two dedicated circuits run to the station. One off the floor and one near ceiling. Because I want to fully automate I was thinking a x4 bundle for this. But please chime in with your ideas

RO tank: I am going to put a float in tank, two level sensors for high and low, either a ATO pump or dosing pumps. (Input needed ) From bottom of RO tank up and out to reef tank is 15ft. RO/DI solenoid shut off. Heater maybe temp probe

Saltwater RO tank: I am putting a a low sensor in the tank, temp probe, and until x10 comes out no salinity probe will hand test when mixing salt. I plan on AWC 5 gallons a day with Kamoer water change. This unit is going to be set up in garage simply because it’s not loud but you can hear it. And running the saltwater mixing station will be a Octo Various 8 DC pump

What hydros controllers do you recommend for this mixing station ? Once the tank is set to ship I will be really needing input and hopefully the new hydros releases will be available in 1st quarter of 2023.

 

[Danny]

I have a build thread on Reef Central that has a lot of information on using the Hydros for that typeof control. My three storage tanks are in my garage under my work bench. I use 20 gallon Brute cans on their dolly system. That allows me to roll the tanks out if and when needed. I have a controller board mounted to the wall behind the work bench. My ATO, AWC and dosing pumps are also in the garage and controlled with controllers out there. The tubing to and from the tank are in insulated PVC conduit run through the attic. Here is a link to the build thread Hex Tank Build . The Hydros information starts on page 4 post #73. There are screenshots and explanations of what I am doing in the post. I have a X4, XS and 2 X2's in the garage that I can talk about. The solenoids for RODI control are using Drive ports. The pumps used for ATO, AWC and dosing are also on drive ports. My DI storage is automatically refilled form the RODI when it goes low. The ATO uses water from the DI storage. I can also dispense water from it into containers. The pump for that is controller by the Hydros. The fresh salt water tank is used by AWC and also has a way to dispense into containers. When it goes low it is refilled from the mix tank if the water in the mix tank is ready to use. Once transfer is complete the mix tank is automatically refilled from the RODI. All I have to do is add the salt mix and press a button when it is ready for use.

 

[thom_smith]

I have a Kamoer water change system one one tank. Use Hydros to control water changes on the other. Hydros has a basic auto water change recipe that can drain based upon set time duration or low level sensor. The fill is based on a high level sensor which is the same one used for your ATO. To accomplish AWC, you only need one additional water level sensor, a spare sense port, drain and fill pumps. I used the AWC for quite a while and it worked well. Eventually I switched over to an advanced Hydros configuration using Mastertronic measured parameters to dictate skipped, normal or large water changes. Water change volume is relative. On my tank normal is 3gal/day and large is an additional 6 gal/day on a 200 gallon volume. And don't forget I also skip based on measured parameters. Hydros can be much more cost effective. I won't be getting another X2SR and would sell the one I have if I wouldn't loose my shirt on it. The nearly $500 spent on X2SR could go toward Hydros controls.

The X4 is a little overkill for a water change station. But I have one in my water change setup so I can relate... The X4 can control your planned VarioS 8 via a 0-10v output. You could have high and low water level sensors on your RO and fresh SW containers. Secondary float switches for each container can use the 0-10v inputs. Add a XS for temperature sensors in each and a leak sensor. That gives you three 0-10v outputs, two 0-10v inputs, two drive ports (not done yet.. more on these shortly.) and a sense port to spare.

The Hydros gold standard for 110v power strips is XP8. But this isn't what I consider critical life support for the tank so wifi strips are also an option here. I use wifi strips on my mixing station. My wifi is also rock solid.

My setup is slightly different than yours. 55 gallon containers for RO, mix SW and ready SW. So three barrels, two pumps distributing auto top off to two tanks and ready saltwater to one. Basic ideas still apply to your use case.

Moving RO to display top off chamber... Dosing pump is fine. I use a latch from @Danny 's build thread to prevent the dosing pump from going on while the RO is empty or filling.

Moving RO to fresh mix... You didn't specifically say, but I assume you have a manual ball valve in the drain side of each RO and mix. That's easy and works well. I've got electric ball valves I use to govern flows. Yet another latch from Danny's build thread to stop water changes, fill the RO, automatically transfer RO to mix and start bringing it up to temperature. The mixing station is in my basement which remains about 65*. I only bring water up to temperature to ensure proper mix and then manually turn on the heater and circulation if I plan a large water change.

Moving from mix to display.. I use another mix ready latch from Danny's build thread so this only occurs after I have added and checked salt. Tee off the mix fill and go 1/4 to the display tank with a normally closed solenoid inline and precision valve if you need to tone down pressure a bit. Also run a 3/4 up to the display that I use for manual water changes. Lastly, have a virtual output which generates a notification if fresh SW runs low before fully filling. In this case, ATO will eventually trigger and refill the missing delta skewing salinity just a bit. Not a big deal because my auto water changes are sliced up into about 3/4 gallon increments but at least I know. Subsequent drains/fills the same day or those following are aborted until I refill mix.

Draining water from display... Another tee off your return and go 1/4 to the drain with another normally closed solenoid inline and a precision valve if you need it.

I accomplish my auto water changes using an extra water level sensor, two solenoids, two precision valves, a couple of tees, 1/4 fittings and existing pumps for less than half the X2SR cost. I don't need to worry about the X2SR pumps being equal and each changing the same amount of water or impacting my display salinity. I keep parameters right where I want them based on measured parameters and don't waste fresh mix or time blindly changing water.

 

[thom_smith]

My water change is actually its own collective. I use some of the remaining X4 0-10v inputs and outputs to communicate with the other collectives.

 

[Jaws]

I just purchased the hydros ATO kit. I do not think this pump will push RO water to my tank. What other 0-10v pumps can I use to pump water to sump. Will be about 15ft with about 8ft uplift

 

[Danny]

I just purchased the hydros ATO kit. I do not think this pump will push RO water to my tank. What other 0-10v pumps can I use to pump water to sump. Will be about 15ft with about 8ft uplift

That pump is not a 0-10v pump. It is a pump that runs from the drive port which is 12v. I use the Hydros dosing pump as my ATO pump. The tubing goes up through the attic the down the wall to the tank. The DI storage and ATO s in the garage and the tank is 35ft away on the other sideof a room and hallway from the garage. I have been running the Hydros pump for a year now as the ATO.

 

[Jaws]

Good to know thanks for the info.